After the free breakfast at Hampton, we headed out to the dealer, Chapman's arriving just after nine, leaving the dogs at the hotel to keep them in the A/C. We finished up the paperwork, but once again things dragged on. We finally got out of there with the new truck after 11:00, having had to transfer an entire bed of hay (with much appreciated help from one of the sales guys, Matt), so we had to rush back to the hotel so that Hubby could change over the hitches for the matching trailers. He quickly discovered that they would have to be completely reconfigured, with different shanks and drops, so I had to get online and find an Equal-i-zer dealer and hope they had the right fittings. Most of the hitch places order what they need, but we found one, Quality Bumper in downtown Phoenix, that had everything we needed. A bit more than an hour later, we were back on the road, heading out to the stables where we picked up the horse trailer, which looked just fine behind the van, and the horses, whose eyes looked better. Then we headed out to the repair place, paid our enormous but worthwhile bill there, and hooked up the RV. The owner, Mike, pointed out a feature on the new truck I didn't know I had, mirrors that extend out at the push of a button so they reach far enough out to see around the load of hay to the RV. Cool! I can't wait to start reading the owners manual to see what other treasures are waiting! Finally, we were on the road! A quick stop at the gas station (the dealer had said they were going to fill the tank, but only put about a quarter tank in), and up the freeway we went. And I do mean UP! It was a climb for practically the entire trip to Prescott, just under two hours, but the truck never skipped a beat! Not only did I hardly break 200 degrees on the engine, I ran the a/c the entire way, and even passed a few slow trucks on the grade! Very impressive! Arrived at the Groom Creek Horse Camp in the Prescott National Forest just after the sun went down, but a camp host helped to find us a spot in the dark, and we were set up by about 8:00. A corral for the horses made it an easy set up, and the site was level, so we just opened up, thankful for the cooler temperatures, and looking forward to crashing, now that everything we had set out to do in Phoenix was accomplished, and then some!
